Blogs from Surabaya, Java, Indonesia, Asia - page 3

After an afternoon and night in Ubud with some western food, a massage, a nice comfortable bed and a few drinks in the evening meeting up with Felix and Rudi we were on our way again. Off to Java via bus - ferry - bus. The bus in Bali - fine - a bemo so we knew what we were getting. The ferry, also fine. Only a quick channel hop so only on it for an hour or so. The bus to Probolinggo. A different story. I think we were on it it for a total of 7 hours, no air con. Fair enough we can handle that. But when the 15yr old got on carrying a rifle and then the bloke with his chickens we started to have our doubts that this was an interesting ... read more

Begin with a picture, a view taken from above scattered fluffy clouds of tropical islands, swaying palms, small fishing villages, distant volcano peaks, fly closer, zoom in, note the colourful patterns of traditional dress, the scarcity of traffic and other modernities. This picture suits the escapist dreams of westerners who'd love to get away to an island paradise. Now look closer, witness the deforestation, the overfishing, the human made waste leeching into the rivers, the devastation of natural disasters on overpopulated lands, the effects of a policy known as transmigrasi, and the increasing density of Java and the island's struggle to provide. This is a consequence of development and the dream to live like Westerners. In the heart of this struggle lies Surabaya which unless you've been to Indonesia you've probably never heard of. While the ... read more

Hi everyone! Yesterday morning we woke early in Ubud, had our breakfast delivered to our door which was a yummy Bananna jaffle(toasted sandwich). We travelled from there down to Ubung where the main bus station servicing denpasar is located with the aim of buying tickets to head to Surabaya. The moment we stepped out of the taxi we were surrounded by touts and ushered up to a nearby window. We were informed that only one bus went to Surabaya during the day and it would cost us 145,000rp. To sell us the fare they showed us the bus promising aircon, toilet, dvd and dinner (sounds like luxury right?)...We bartered the fare down to 100,000rp each (around $16) for the 10 hour journey. As soon as we jumped on the bus and waited 45mins to leave, were ... read more

Geo: -7.24, 112.74Salut tout le monde, Nous allons bien (ma phrase favorite)Nous devons vous faire un resume de notre disparition vers le Mont-Bromo. (pas d'internet bien entendu les volcans font sans doute des signaux de fumee donc pas besoin d'internet. hihi) Nous avons quitte Gogya le matin (2 janvier) pour se payer un petit trajet de 11 heures de bus. Nous sommes arrive tres tard a notre guest house. Tres mignon, genre chalet non insonorise et non isole. Donc nous avons eu droit a un taux d'humidite tres eleve puisque la montagne est a 1700m d'altitude (donc drap presque sortie de la laveuse) et reveil de la marmaille a 6.00 du matin. Les murs etaient en bamboo et on pouvait voir la lumiere a travers. Nous avons pu enfin vider la valise d'hivers parce-qu'il fesait froid ... read more

I couldn’t quite understood what was bugging me on my way to the airport, a pinching feeling that I’ve left behind something that I should have taken with me to Indonesia. It was not until I reached LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) that it hit me that I’ve forgotten to grab along the key to my office drawer where I’ve kept my DSLR! Though there were 4 daily flights to Surabaya and I could easily hopped on to any of the half filled airbus, I wasn’t prepared to take another 3 hours back and forth for the camera. So being the optimistic person that I am, I went with the flow hoping that something good would come out from my carelessness. Being the second largest city in Indonesia, Surabaya is noisy, polluted and crowded. Albeit the ... read more